


A Little Bit of Something (God, It's Better Than Nothing)

by Azure_Lynx



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: M/M, Multi, Nightmares, Pre-Relationship, Sleepy Boys, Stoncy Week 2020, just a lil fluff, post-season 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:22:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23879101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azure_Lynx/pseuds/Azure_Lynx
Summary: [What are we doing? It’s been three months since you kissed me and three months since I’ve moved and we never talked about it but I want to because the only good dreams I have anymore are of your lips and the rest are nightmares.]
Relationships: Jonathan Byers/Steve Harrington, Jonathan Byers/Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler
Comments: 6
Kudos: 60





	A Little Bit of Something (God, It's Better Than Nothing)

**Author's Note:**

> Day 2: I called you at 2 am because I need you ~~OR Having a bad day and the other(s) noticing~~  
>  Title from 3 AM by Matchbox 20.

Jonathan would get used to the time difference. Eventually. 

The voice on the other end of the line definitely said something that was supposed to be a ‘hello’ but ended up more of a ‘huhgn?’

“Shit. I’m...fuck, I’m sorry.” Two a.m. was barely a reasonable time to call. Barely. But since his mom had moved them to the West Coast, that meant it was four a.m. in Hawkins, and that was impossible to justify.

“No, no, I’m totally awake,” Steve slurred. “Totally. Was just. Working on a project. What’s up?”

Jonathan didn’t believe him for a minute, but it made his heart warm anyway. 

“Nightmare,” he admitted. Three of them, actually, which he declined to mention, and all of them involved Steve getting torn apart or killed by Billy Hargrove or ruined by Russians, and he just...he had to call to make sure Steve was okay.

Steve hummed. “Yep. Those suck.”

He didn’t ask Jonathan why call him instead of Nancy. This was good, because Jonathan would not have a good answer for him beyond a desperate need to reassure himself that Steve was okay. That, of course, led to the question of why he was so desperately worried about his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend in the first place when they were, by all accounts, enemies for 80 percent of their lives.

_He was packing up the moving truck and no one was here yet to see them off, but Steve showed up and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly and said something like “Thanks for saving my ass, I’m going to miss you” which was enough of an admission on its own and then they were leaning on the truck, far closer than necessary, and Steve leaned forward and kissed him and fuck, he liked it._

Except Steve left before any of the others showed up and the two boys had spent the last three months _firmly_ not discussing that afternoon. The rest of his family - and Nancy, his girlfriend - didn’t even know Steve had come over to see him off. 

They’d been listening to each other breathe on the phone for way too long, and Jonathan wondered if Steve had fallen asleep again. He had half a mind to hang up and leave the poor guy be, but finally, Steve asked, “D’you wanna...y’know. Talk about it?”

Jonathan very much did not. He shook his head sharply, then realized that was not a response Steve could receive, and said, “No, thank you.”

Steve hummed in response. 

They listened to each other breathe a little longer. Jonathan felt more awkward by the minute. 

“So you know how Robin’s a lesbian?” Steve asked, apropos to nothing. 

Jonathan blinked. “Uh. Yeah?” It wasn’t an openly broadcast fact or anything, and he’d only spoken to Robin Buckley maybe twice since starting high school, but when you were a queer kid in Hawkins, you tended to know who all the others were.

Except Steve. That had been a surprise, if he even was queer. Which, if he wasn’t, why would he have kissed Jonathan? But if he was…

“So it’s kind of obvious, right?” Steve asked, interrupting his train of thought.

Jonathan neglected to point out that when the four teens went out for milkshakes the following weekend to talk about the whole thing, the only reason it’d come up was because Steve was a little bit of an oblivious idiot, and after 20 minutes of reassuring Robin that they weren’t going to like, beat her up or anything, during which Jonathan tried to share a couple long, meaningful looks with her - after those 20 minutes, Robin told them that Steve had not known until he confessed having a crush on her while they were lying on the bathroom floor and she spelled it out for him.

Instead, he hummed.

“Right. Totally obviously not into dudes. Except Keith has not figured that out yet.”

Jonathan wrinkled his nose. “Keith is making a pass at Robin?” Especially since he was her manager, that was all kinds of weird.

“No, no.” Steve shook his head so hard Jonathan could hear the hair hit the receiver. “Keith’s still trying to get with Nancy. Even when she tells him, repeatedly, that she is not interested. She started wearing a ring and telling him you were engaged, actually.”

Jonathan choked in surprise, but it wasn’t a bad feeling. He could marry Nancy Wheeler easily. 

“That doesn’t bother you?” he asked, almost afraid of the answer.

“Nah, you’re my two favorite people. Well, besides Robin and Dustin. And Lucas. Erica’s on thin ice but she’d be mad if I didn’t mention her. You know they’re teaching her to play D&D? It’s actually pretty adorable.” 

If there was one thing Steve Harrington was good at, it was running his mouth off, which was an excellent quality for calming Jonathan’s anxiety.

“But anyway, my point is, if you two are happy, I’m happy. And you are. Right?” Steve asked, almost as an afterthought, like he couldn’t imagine a world where the answer was no. 

“Yeah.” Jonathan thought about Nancy and he felt warm. “We’re happy.”

“Then I’m happy. Nancy has been hanging out with me and Robin. It’s pretty great.”

Jonathan felt warm thinking about Steve, too. “So why does it matter that Keith doesn’t realize she’s a lesbian?” he asked, leading them slightly back to the original topic. “If he doesn’t want to date her.”

“He might not, but as the patron saint of hopeless romantic causes or something, he’s taken on helping this sophomore we’ve got who keeps coming in and trying to flirt with Robin.” Steve snorted. “She didn’t even realize the guy _was_ flirting until I pointed it out to her.”

Jonathan smiled. That sounded about right. 

“How’re Will and El?” Steve asked. “How’s freshman year? I remember it was brutal for me.”

Jonathan snorted, because that was hard to believe, but he appreciated the interest nonetheless.

“They’re really leaning into the ‘twin’ thing. El’s still struggling with math, and she can only read middle school books, but she’s been doing pretty well in her science class as long as Will writes the lab reports. And Will joined the art club.”

“And you?” Steve asked. “Senior year! Made any friends?”

Jonathan snorted. “Steve, do I seem like the kind of person who makes friends?”

“Fair, fair. So no pretty girl and overzealous jock with fantastic hair have attached themself to you, then?”

Jonathan laughed. “Nope. You’re the only ones.”

“Aw, you think my hair is fantastic? Thanks, Jonathan.” Steve blew him a kiss through the phone and Jonathan’s heart stuttered. “Okay, so what about college apps?”

Jonathan told him a little bit about the essays he’d written and schools he’d applied to, and Steve listened attentively and hummed his approval along the way. 

“What about you?” Jonathan asked. “Are you gonna try again?”

“Yes, actually.” Steve’s voice got a little shy. “I’m...thinking of being a teacher. Which, I know, it sounds stupid -”

“No, I think that’s great.” The concept of Steve teaching a bunch of kids made Jonathan’s heart warm. “Middle School?”

“How did you know?”

Jonathan thought of Dustin and the rest of the kids. “Lucky guess.”

“Yeah, middle school. I’ve applied to a couple schools in Chicago and Indianapolis. Dad won’t pay, but, whatever. I’m saving up.”

Jonathan really liked the idea of Steve going to Chicago. Jonathan had applied to a couple schools there, too.

They went back to listening to each others’ breathing. It was still calming, and after awhile, Jonathan had lost all of the residual panic from his nightmares.

Steve yawned. “Thanks for calling,” he said, voice fading with sleep again. “I miss you. You should call me again sometime. Not - not just at 4am, though, unless you need to.”

Jonathan smiled. “Yeah. I’ll do that,” he promised. “Good night, Steve.”

“Good morning, Jonathan.”

**Author's Note:**

> This whole thing feels entirely experimental, but it made me happy to write, and I hope it makes you happy to read. I might do some more with this universe/idea - there's just something I love about the "we kissed but we are _not_ talking about it" vibe. (If you'd be interested, feel free to let me know).  
> Happy Day Two of Stoncy Week! See y'all soon with more.


End file.
